Boston is working hard to get rid of the mountains of snow on city streets in advance of Wednesday's parade for the New England Patriots, but many are asking how it will be pulled off after a nightmare on Boston roads on Tuesday evening.

Post-snow gridlock brought Charles Circle to a standstill Tuesday for hours near Mass General hospital. Cambridge Street and every road leading into it was at a standstill despite the best efforts by Boston police.

The whole mess was a massive inconvenience for commuters but a serious concern for hospital staffers

"It's a level one trauma center. We need to be able to get patients in. It's not acceptable," Cristina Matthews said. "It should have been the priority clearing these sidewalks and these streets to get into this hospital."

Some MGH employees stayed on-duty an extra four hours when the hospital asked workers to stay put after the gridlock made leaving impossible and delayed the arrival of other staffers.

But it wasn't themselves they're worried about.

"Clearly ambulances need to get in, patients need to get in," Matthews said. "Our patients all were delayed by several hours today. So it's a little disappointing."

"It's awful. Awful," Kristina Shultz said. 'What our patients went through today, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It was a nightmare. I just talked to a patient and it took her five hours to get here.